The trial of Kevin Sanders, the man accused of beating Joël Mailhot to death in a Sherbrooke bar in August 2020, continued on Tuesday with the testimony of the waitress who was present at the Urbaine tavern on the evening of the attack .
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Sophie Morin hid her face to avoid being recognized by the filming cameramen. Her appearance has changed since the events. Still traumatized, she doesn’t want Kevin Sanders to recognize her.
Because of this, she testified hidden behind a screen to prevent him from seeing her.
The waitress and the accused knew each other before the tragedy. The day before the attack, when the Urban Tavern was closing, she had asked Sanders to accompany her to another eatery, the Other Zone. There she joined friends and then left with another man.
The next day, according to the waitress, the accused was upset. She greeted him when he arrived at the Urban Tavern, but Sanders would have replied in an aggressive tone, “You shut up and you serve me”.
“You took me to a ‘fif’ bar to leave me alone!”
In the hours that followed, Sophie Morin said she felt threatened, and the defendant kept following her with an intimidating look.
She is said to have even mentioned Joël Mailhot to the victim while the two were smoking a cigarette outside, fearing for his life.
When it closed around 11:15 p.m., Kevin Sanders reportedly told him to shut up and let him drink his beer.
“Don’t make me call the police to get you out,” the waitress reportedly retorted.
At the time, he reportedly said, “If you call the police, I’ll kick his ass!” points to Joël Mailhot.
The waitress picked up the phone and began signaling, then Sanders got up to grab the victim and throw him to the ground.
A publication ban prohibits the showing of the images of the attack.
We see the 28-year-old defendant deal the 51-year-old man 18 punches in the face and four violent kicks to the head before exiting the bar by kicking a chair.
The accused was arrested minutes later. A surveillance camera showed him, disarmingly calm, being escorted by police before being taken to hospital for treatment for his head injury.
Sophie Morin held back her tears, her voice trembled at times and testified that while waiting for the police, she put the victim on his side because he was choking on his blood, slapped him on the shoulders to help him, regaining consciousness and took his hand so he knew he wasn’t alone.
The seven men and five women on the jury were able to see the striking video of the attack. They did it without looking away, despite the violence of the images.
Joël Mailhot, 51, died of his injuries three days later.
The public prosecutor’s office will call their last witness on Thursday.